“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The first amendment has bee the topic of a great deal of conversation lately. This in the wake of Alex Jones being removed from many social media cites and the Unite the Right rally.

It seems that all of a sudden free speech is under attack. Maybe people do not remember comments leading up to the election and today about the media being the enemy of the American people.

I’m both infuriated and confused by what is going on. Infuriated because people are wrapping themselves up in the protection of the first amendment when it suits them and confused because some of the arguments to be “right” (correct) are sad and lame.

Alex Jones got the boot from several social media platforms. Private businesses who found that his content was violating their terms and agreements. All of a sudden this is an infringement on his free speech. But according to Alex Jones he is not part of the media but instead he is an entertainer, distancing him from being part of the media, the press. Additionally, Alex Jones is still allowed to continue saying what he wants, the only thing that happened is his platform was taken away. This does not infringe upon his freedom of speech, just his delivery method. In many ways there are parallels between this story and the bakery’s right to refuse service.

Today I was watching the Little League World Series. One of the players made a great play that resulted in a run, putting the team in the lead. I was in the other room listening to the announcers. One of the commentators complimented the player saying that this man was responsible for the putting Iowa on the score board.

While it was a great compliment.

But I was also struck, because in order to play in the Little League World series you are between the ages of 10-12. However, there was no hesitation in calling this player a man. I listened more closely and noticed the sportscasters would call them boys when they were referring to them as a team but when commenting on individual players they were either men or young men.

I found this contrasted some commentating I’ve heard for women’s sports, namely surfing. Over the past year there has been a major shift and the surfers are referred to as women, ladies, athletes or surfers there are still some who see no issue with calling these athletes girls.

What really stands out is for surfing these women are professionals and with the Little League World Series, they are a ways off from professional status.

Admittedly there is a cultural difference in surfing and baseball. But using language like young man or man gives validity to the career path. Men have careers, boys have hobbies and past times.

Since I was younger, there has been a push to take charge of the word girl and make it a word of power. However, there are still people who think it is nothing but cute how women are pushing to make the word girl powerful. While all of this focus on making being a girl powerful, it is still an insult to call a man or boy a girl or accuse them of acting like a girl. When the word girl is no longer thrown out as a way to put someone down, then we’ve made real progress.

Jimmy and I just went on a road trip to Kentucky to watch the Derby. When we got home and started posting our pictures, we got a few comments about how this needs to get added to their bucket list. Reading those comments, I realized I hate bucket lists.

I appreciate the idea of making a list of things to do. But for so many people, all a bucket list ends up being is a list, a dream list of things someone wants to do but probably will not do.

Jim and I started our planning to go to the Derby about 10 years before we actually went. We didn’t put it on our bucket list of things to do one day, instead we said we are going to the Derby. However, we just did not quite know when. That part took some time because we knew that we could not just take off and go (adulting, you get it). But we always kept the trip on our radar and kept the focus on we will go, not we want to go or one day we will do it.

I’ve come across too many people who wrack up lists of dreams instead of lists of things they will do. I would rather have my to do list instead of my bucket list.

We still have things on the list that we are working towards. The key is we are making steps to make those things happen. We aren’t waiting for the right time or to win the lottery.

Our to do list is fluid. Some things we may never get to and we are good with that. And our interests change, so the list grows and changes.

Next up…….we’re working on it, we have some adulting to do first to make it happen.

]]>https://swelltimesahead.blog/2018/03/30/out-of-the-blue/feed/0Darcy and KiaswelltimesaheadDarcy and KiaNo deadlineshttps://swelltimesahead.blog/2018/03/29/no-deadlines/
https://swelltimesahead.blog/2018/03/29/no-deadlines/#respondThu, 29 Mar 2018 21:39:38 +0000http://swelltimesahead.blog/?p=2909Some things have no deadlines,
We either do them
Or we do not.

She pushed her cart around the store,
She needed new dishes.
Moving into a new place.
The first time in her life,
She would be living along.
Before moving,
There was so much stuff,
So much to go through.
She wanted to hold onto some memories,
But her son knew best,
Said most of it was junk
And sold the rest.
Her cart is filled with base essentials,
Just what she will need.
She gets to the dishes,
They are all packaged in sets.
Her son catches her as she stares.
Do you like this one?
All she can think is,
What will I do with a full set of dishes?